Painted Essay®: Analyze a Model | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M1:U3:L6

Painted Essay®: Analyze a Model

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.8.9, RI.8.1, W.8.2

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3, RI.8.3, RI.8.5, W.8.4, W.8.6, W.8.10, SL.8.1, L.8.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can analyze a Painted Essay® model to generate criteria of an effective compare and contrast essay. (RI.8.1, W.8.2)
  • I can analyze a model essay to determine criteria for my essay on a modernized monster. (RI.8.1, W.8.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket (RL.8.4, L.8.4a)
  • Work Time A and Closing and Assessment A: Painted Essay® template (RL.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.4, W.8.9a)
  • Work Time B and Work Time C: Informative Writing Checklist (RI.8.1, W.8.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Introduce Painted Essay® – W.8.2 (20 minutes)

B. Model: Analyze the Model Essay – W.8.2 (5 minutes)

C. Partner Work: Analyze the Model Essay – W.8.2 (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Reflection on Painted Essay® Structure and Informative Checklist – W.8.2 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Character Depictions: Using Homework: Compare and Contrast Character Depictions, students identify details from Summer of the Mariposas that support claims about the depiction of a character.

B. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • W.8.2 – Opening A: Students will identify the Painted Essay® purpose and components, which will aid in their ability to write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
  • W.8.2 – Work Time A: Students will analyze a model compare and contrast essay using the Painted Essay® structure to generate criteria for their own essays. This will help students build the ability to write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
  • RL.8.1 – Work Time A: Students will identify details and evidence from the model essay that aligns with and supports elements of the Painted Essay® structure.
  • W.8.2 – Work Time B and C: Students will analyze a model essay and identifying criteria for this type of essay will help students better understand how to write an informational essay of their own.
  • RL.8.9 – Work Time B and C: Students will analyze a model essay and identifying criteria for this type of essay will help students better understand how to analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes and character types from myths, including describing how the material is rendered new.
  • RI.8.1 – Work Time B and C: students will identify details and evidence from the model essay that aligns with and supports elements of the Painted Essay® structure and the Informative Checklist criteria.
  • The Painted Essay® (Diana Leddy, Vermont Writing Collaborative) guides students to code each section of their essay a different color to understand each part, the content of each part, and how the different parts connect.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners, persevering as they read and analyze an essay.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Students may continue to outline their essay in preparation for the coming lessons.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • Students have identified the gist of the model essay in the mid-unit assessment, which compares and contrasts the mythology of the Peuchen in Latin American folklore and its depiction in the model narrative. In this lesson, students analyze this model essay using a checklist to determine the characteristics of informational writing. Students also analyze how the model uses Painted Essay® form and how this structure can help them plan their own essays.

Support All Students

  • For students who may be overwhelmed by too much print on a page, reduce anxiety and support sustained effort by offering a copy of the model essay with one paragraph per page. ▲
  • Note there is a differentiated version of the Informative Writing checklist used in Work Time B in the supporting materials download. ▲
  • For students who may need heavier support in analyzing the model essay, make strategic pairings or create a small group to work with closely during this time. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Throughout Work Time A, frequently review student work to ensure they are color-coding accurately. Use common issues as whole group teaching points.
  • As students analyze the model essay in triads in Work Time C, circulate to listen for misconceptions. Once complete, review students’ gist statements to ensure they are on the right track.
  • Throughout Closing and Assessment A, frequently review student work to ensure they are using the Painted Essay® structure accurately. Use common issues as whole group teaching points.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will complete a language dive on focus statements and will draft the introductions for their essays. 

In Advance

  • Prepare Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6.
  • Familiarize yourself with the color-coding and the purpose of each choice of color in the Painted Essay®.
  • Ensure there is a copy of Unit 3, Lesson 6 Entrance Ticket at each student’s workspace.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Project a digital version of the model essay to display and color-code. 
  • Closing and Assessment A: Complete the modeling for Painted Essay® template graphic organizer with the class in a word-processing document such as a Google Doc.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 8.I.B.6, 8.I.B.7, 8.I.B.8, 8.IC.10, 8.I.C.11, and 8.I.C.12.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson introduces the Painted Essay®, a practice of using color-coding to highlight structural elements of an essay to help students to understand the purpose of each part, appropriate content within each part, and how the different parts connect. The Painted Essay® is introduced using a familiar text: Model Essay: “Peuchen,” which students first encountered on the mid-unit assessment in Lesson 2. While this reading was used on the assessment as an informational text to assess students’ proficiency in finding main ideas and key details and writing summaries on the assessment, the reading is repurposed in this lesson as a model compare and contrast essay. The essay will be used a tool for analysis throughout the unit to help guide students in their preparation for writing a compare and contrast essay on the end of unit assessment. 
  • ELLs may find it challenging to understand the Painted Essay® concept if they have not been introduced to it in earlier grades. Expect a potential gap in knowledge of, and experience with, the Painted Essay® among students, depending on their previous exposure. Activate students' prior knowledge of the Painted Essay® (or essay writing, in general) through a quick, general discussion of purpose and approach before moving into more detailed analysis. 

Vocabulary

  • generate, model (A)
  • Painted Essay(r) (DS)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening B)
  • Chart paper of Spanish words (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time D)
  • Compare and Contrast La Llorona note-catcher (for teacher reference; from Unit 3, Lesson 4, Work Time B)
  • Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 2, Lessons 4-5, Work Time D)
  • Equity sticks
  • Vocabulary logs (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Online or print dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Paint an Essay lesson plan (for teacher reference)
  • Painted Essay(r) Model: "Peuchen" (example for teacher reference)
  • Compare and Contrast Painted Essay(r) anchor chart (for teacher reference)
  • Compare and Contrast Painted Essay(r) anchor chart (one for display; to be created during Work Time A)
  • Informative Writing checklist (example for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6 (one per student)
  • Sticky notes
  • Colored pencils (red, yellow, blue, green; one of each per student)
  • Model Essay: “Peuchen” (one per student)
  • Painted Essay® template (one per student)
  • Informative Writing checklist (one per student and one for display)
  • Informative Writing checklist ▲
  • Homework: Compare and Contrast Character Depictions (one per student; from Homework Resources)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: As students arrive, invite them to complete Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 6.
  • Once all students are ready, invite students to share a suggested meaning of the Painted Essay®. Prompt them to Turn and Talk: 

“If you are familiar with the Painted Essay®, what is it? If you are not familiar with the Painted Essay®, what do you think it is, based on the context of the learning target?” (The Painted Essay® guides students to code each section of their essay a different color to understand each part, the content of each part, and how the different parts connect.)

  • Invite a student to add Painted Essay® and its definition to the domain-specific word wall, with translations in home languages where appropriate.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as previous lessons.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine to focus students on the words generate (produce) and model (a standard that is suitable for imitation or comparison) in the learning targets and to use a dictionary to define the words. With students’ support, record the meanings of the terms on the academic word wall. Invite students to record the terms in their vocabulary logs. 
  • Students may also use the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to deconstruct each term and add any relevant notes to the vocabulary strategies on this chart.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Introduce Painted Essay® – W.8.2 (20 minutes)

  • Review appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can analyze a Painted Essay® model to generate criteria of an effective compare and contrast essay.”

  • Distribute and display the Model Essay: “Peuchen.” Remind students that they read this essay on their mid-unit 3 assessment. Explain to students that they will first analyze the structure of this essay.
  • Distribute colored pencils and guide students through using these and their Painted Essay® template to color-code their copy of Model Essay: “Peuchen.” Refer to Paint an Essay lesson plan (for teacher reference) and the Painted Essay® Model: “Peuchen” (example for teacher reference) for further detail.
  • Generate criteria on the Compare and Contrast Painted Essay® anchor chart, referencing the Compare and Contrast Painted Essay® anchor chart (for teacher reference) while working through the plan.
  • N/A

B. Model: Analyze the Model Essay – W.8.2 (5 minutes) 

  • Review appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can analyze a model essay to determine criteria for my essay on a modernized monster.”

  • Introduce the essay prompt for the end of unit assessment:

“What about your monster from folklore of Latin American have you kept the same and what have you modernized in the new scene you have written for Summer of the Mariposas? Why?”

  • Direct student attention to the Model Essay: “Peuchen.” Explain to students that they will look at this model again, more closely, to consider how the content can guide the work they will do on their own essay.

  • Explain that students will model their essay after this essay that compares and contrasts the depiction of the peuchen in Latin American folklore and in the model narrative from Unit 2.

  • Distribute and display the Informative Writing checklist. For ELLs and students who require additional support, Informative Writing checklist ▲ can be used to direct students’ attention to examples of each criteria within the model essay. Model how to complete the first row or two of the Informative Writing checklist using examples from the Model Essay: “Peuchen” to determine what each of the general criteria on the checklist may look like in their own essays on a modernized monster. See Informative Writing checklist (answers for teacher reference). Note that the Informative Writing Checklist is a consistent resource in all grades; consider the amount of detail needed in modeling this for students.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

“Where do we see evidence of the second criterion in the model essay?” (Proof Paragraph 1 explains similarities between the original myth and the retelling, while Proof Paragraph 2 explains the differences and why the author chose to modernize the monster.)

  • Invite students to record response on row two of their Informative Writing checklist.

For Lighter Support

  • In Work Time B, provide scrambled, large strips of paper with the color-coded chunks of the Painted Essay® version of the model essay, and have students work in groups to put them in order to reassemble the essay before moving on to color-coding individual copies of the model essay. This will get students thinking about the structure in an inductive way while also engaging tactile senses to reinforce learning.

 

C. Partner Work: Analyze the Model Essay – W.8.2 (10 minutes) 

  • Invite students to work in pairs to reread the model essay and complete the remainder of the Informative Writing checklist by analyzing characteristics of the Model Essay: “Peuchen.” Prior to setting students out to work, ask them to review the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, citing ways in which they hope to show perseverance in today’s partner work.
  • Circulate and support students as needed, prompting students to notice specific words and phrases from the text. See Informative Writing checklist (answers for teacher reference).

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time C, as an alternative to using the Informative Writing Checklist ▲, provide a list of sentences from Model Essay: “Peuchen” that illustrate the characteristics listed on the Informative Writing checklist graphic organizer. Have students determine which characteristic each of the sentences addresses and add them to their individual handouts using a glue stick. 

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Reflection on Painted Essay® Structure and Informative Checklist – W.8.2 (5 minutes)

  • Use equity sticks to have students share their responses to the Informative Writing checklist.
  • If productive, use a Goal 2 Conversation Cue to encourage students to listen carefully:

“Who can repeat what your classmate said?” (Responses will vary.)

  • Use equity sticks to invite a few students to share what they have learned about the Painted Essay®.
  • Ask:

“What is one thing you learned about the Painted Essay® structure and how it will help you write? What is one remaining question you have about the Painted Essay®?”

  • Review remaining questions that students have. Prepare to answer these questions with individual students outside of class or in the upcoming lesson.
  • Invite students to Turn and Talk, referring to the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart as needed:

“How did you show perseverance in today’s work time?” (Student answers will vary).

  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • Remind students that they will use this checklist to plan their essays and ensure that they are meeting all criteria for a strong informative essay.

Homework

Homework

A. Character Depictions

  • Using Homework: Compare and Contrast Character Depictions, students identify details from Summer of the Mariposas that support claims about the depiction of a character.

B. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

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